Wednesday, February 26, 2003

The debate about Acts has collapsed into recriminations with Prof Robbins insisting he doesn't actually want to debate but 'learn new things'. He then came up with a 'new thing' that Troas, where Paul visits in Acts, is actually ancient Troy and Luke is repeating the voyage of Aeneas to Rome. Never mind that Alexandria Troas, where Paul sets off, is not ancient Troy, never mind that Illium actually is ancient Troy and Paul never goes there, never mind that Paul heads back to Palestine which Aeneas never goes anywhere near, and never mind that Paul never sets foot in Carthage where Aeneas stays for ages. I cannot believe that serious grown up scholars even give this kind of thing the time of day and is further proof of the damage done to the subject of History by the virus of extreme post modernist literary criticism.

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Welcome to Quodlibeta

The Latin word Quodlibeta means "whatever you like" and refers to the special occasions at medieval universities when the students (or clerks as they were known) could test their masters by asking any question they fancied. This blog is primarily concerned with religion, science, history and their interface. But like the medieval clerks, we reserve the right to post on anything we want.

I am a historian of a very middling and amateurish sort. Having taken a Masters in Modern History at the University of St Andrews (2004), I completed a law conversion course at Nottingham Law School and embarked upon what has been an exciting career in legal technology. My chief interests are in Twentieth Century History, Colonial America, Historiography and, most recently, the History of Science. I also write a satirical blog at The Diary of Humphrey Clarke. I hope my contributions to Quodlibeta capture something of the pleasure I get from trawling my dusty collection of second hand history books.

Jim S

I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Master's degrees in Philosophy and Theology. I'm a generalist, my areas of expertise being epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and science and religion. I did my philosophical studies in Continental Europe, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. I also write the Agent Intellect blog. In my mid-20s I decided to refute Christianity to set my conscience at ease. Two subjects I turned to in particular were science and philosophy. I accidentally argued myself into it.